From the customer point of view, the position of a customer is in many ways an easy one. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism which is fun to write or provide as feedback. But the bitter truth we as customers must face is that in the grand scheme of things, even the average piece of AI junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating so. But there are times when a customer truly risks something and that is in the discovery and defense of the new, the unknown which we very often demonize just because it brings a big deal of change with it. The world has always been unkind to new technologies, new creations and new talent. The new, needs friends, supporters and early adaptors that will experience the new, the extraordinary, and the unique that will shock us to our core.
The technological advancements of artificial intelligence and machine learning come as a gift to humanity with a promise of change to a faster, safer and more community-centric world. Humanizing this technology is a great leap of faith that is imminently needed now in order to manifest the flaming potential that lies within it. Where businesses are being data-driven, the fact should not be ignored that human touch is very important. Although nothing can replace human interaction for providing a smooth and comprehensive customer experience, we need to acknowledge that customer experience has a come long way in becoming as important as the product itself.
The only way to meet constantly rising customer expectations, is to create a thrilling customer experience, through innovative ways assisted by fitting AI technology, into traditional narratives across all industries. Fitting into traditional narratives needs businesses to become more customer centric, which is the key in delivering phenomenal customer experience. Understanding the customer journey across all touch points while providing outstanding support is such a traditional yet new narrative in today’s CX world. Focusing on customer feedback and letting it be the cradle of leadership that will shape the business outlooks and improve the services based on this will open a window of opportunity in modern executive management and leadership. As such, the use of the right tools and metrics to measure business and team performance will improve our understanding of customer needs and expectations, and thus, is very imperative.
From a business perspective, the desirable outcome is to achieve humanizing AI technology - which is unlikely to happen if we fail to humanize our own brand. And how we do that? Well, everything has to do with the way we communicate with our customers. It is no secret that customers prefer businesses that they can easily connect with. Involving our customers in our step-by-step evolution is an ingenious way to emotionally engage with them. Such as allowing them to be part of our new service or new product release, or prompting them to share their opinions over social media. Making our customers part of our business is the most efficient and honest way to make them feel valued by our brand as it conveys the message that our company works as a team and values its customers. And this is one of the building blocks of humanizing our brand and thus the technology of it. Keeping our customers in our tech evolution ride, allowing them to validate it along every step of the way, is giving the human touch we should be seeking.
“Παν μέτρον άριστον” (Pan Metron Ariston) which means "Everything in moderation” in Greek is my favorite, quote from the ancient Greek philosophers’ era. Everything in moderation stipulates our caution in overusing anything good or positive. It applies a moral governor on how much we use a convenience or a leverage to our favor. This applies in how we use AI today. We should be extremely cautious over the possible overburn of AI. Indeed, one of the main benefits of integrating AI in CX processes provides us with the luxury to acquire a much deeper understanding of each customer; however this process comes with a deficit in flair when it comes to the human ability and capacity to cater for the needs of an individual customer. The overuse of AI technology can lead to a dangerous trap, keeping us from understanding complex customer queries due to a lack of understanding, resulting in delayed and inaccurate responses that are unable to deliver real time resolutions to customer issues, and affecting customer satisfaction and retention in the most severe way possible. Everything in moderation is the way to grow and accomplish the technological transition towards a new, smooth and nicely blended era where AI and human factors will co-exist to complement each other. So, here’s to the better days in front of us.
